May 24, 2011

For their first meeting yesterday, Kate wore a simple but stylish £175 bandage dress in fashionable ‘nude’ from Reiss, one of the few truly British fashion brands left on the planet....

Michelle Obama, on the other hand, looked like a little girl in a too short pink bolero (I hate boleros – and only six-year-olds should wear pink!) that my fashion spies tell me is not even vintage, it’s just old. Ouch.

Actually Michelle Obama looks very pretty and quite happy in several of the photos. She's nearly 20 years older than the Duchess, and the wife of a Chief of State, not a fashion model or a pretty princess type. She wasn't exactly born and bred to this type of display, and she does not have the perfect body for fashionable clothes. She's too big overall, has a womanly butt, wide shoulders and strong non girly arms.

Dutchess Kate has the perfect model's body, and has been groomed for this role. The dress is extremely flattering to her, and she wears it well.

The people who help Mrs. Obama with wardrobe are not doing her great favors, but overall she looks damn good. I chuckle every time I see a photo of Michelle next to some foreign dignitary, male or female, who look to be about half her size. I wonder what they must think when this bronze amazon first approaches them.

Not so fond of the bolero jacket, but the dress looks nice. Listen, if you've got somewhat wide hips, you may need dresses like those Mrs. Obama wears, with a waist and whatever you call that skirt style. Not everyone can wear your basic sheath. Let's hear what Trooper York says about the body type. Let's see him dress the lady.

Somewhere along the line, Obama's people decided to use Michelle's fashion as one more political tool. It's why we always hear about her less expensive choices when she does a US tv interview/talk show.

"the assumption that these women are there to be in a vicious competition with each other."

I think that is the case in Michelle Obama's case. She has put herself out there as a style maven and is constantly wearing high fashion clothing that is extremely expensive and often rather unflattering to her figure.

On the other hand Kate has the appearance of someone who is far more comfortable with her appearance and does not need to wear a dress costing thousands to make an impression on the people she meets.

Michelle wears a very expensive and extremely exclusive dress to emphasize that she is someone important and special compared to everyone else. She was shown up by a pretty girl in a department store frock.

Breitbart provides a link to the toast. (I blame the Mossad for cuing the band to start playing too early.) While Queen Elizabeth looks rather disengaged while Obama was actually toasting. (She seemed to be looking for something to eat, around her plate, there.)

This is how Breitbart describes the faux pas:

President Obama gave this toast to Queen Elizabeth II and guests at a state banquet at Buckingham Palace Tuesday. After the president took a long pause, the orchestra starting playing "God Save the Queen" presumably too soon. The President continued speaking over the anthem, causing an awkward moment at the elegant dinner.

They fired all the protocol people in the State Department so the President could hire his "Director of Progressive Media & Online Response."

AKA the blogger shutter upper. (Not to mention Jake Tapper will be reassigned.)

"According to The Huffington Post, Lee will essentially be responsible for building up Obama’s online presence as he prepares for his reelection bid, and squashing any negative stories." <-- See. No more he doesn't know what year it is stories, no he offended the Brits by screwing up the toast stories, no 1967 throw the Israelis under the bus stories, no iPod speech stories, no unplayable my favorite DVD gift stories, no 57 states stories, no corpseman stories, no counting the I, me, my stories ....

That's why. Besides he's the smartest man in any room, and who is Emily Post and why should I care? ("I'll bow to the Saudi prince if I darned well want to!!!")

I'm guessing that the big problem associated w/ owning gold furniture is that it's hard to throw out. Doing so would seem wasteful. And, it's probably especially hard to toss this stuff if it's been in the fam for a bit, as this stuff probably has.

Or, maybe these folks keep this furniture because they actually like it. Maybe that new gal is all, "I'm royalty, so of course I need a gold chair." And, "Look at me, my chairs are gold, that means I'm classy."

Insane? The panic level is rising. BarryO wrote " May 24, 2008" in the guestbook. Nobody makes mistakes like that. Nobody.

He's either Chauncy Gardner, or a stoner and back on the ganga, or he's being a deliberate a-hole. And McCain/Palin would have been worse!

Hey rubes, great choice for a President! BarryO makes a speech, everybody yawns, the President of little tiny Israel shows up the next day and takes him to the woodshed and gets standing ovations in Congress. And now, his wife's ambitions have fallen so far as to just be the chocolate JackieO. Jeez, this is gonna get worse.

Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel delivered an inspiring speech to Congress that was , again, a lesson to the young, inexperienced President of the United States. The speech was interrupted by 29 full bipartisan standing ovations (Let's see, that's at ;east 4 more partial standing O's the Pres got in the last State of the Union).

And - all done without once disparaging or ambushing the President.

So - it's clear. after this week of Obama faux pas:

- poorly thought out and poorly received Middle East speech

- major social faux pas (2!) so far in England

- and that's just in 6 days(!)

The answer is plain.

Obama needs to be regularly schooled by Bibi.

Any chance Netanyahu was actually born in the USA?

PS to Shiloh,

Call me a troll if you like, but I've been here for 6 years. How about you, sweetheart?

So happy to see your buns burned and you lose it so radically when your President makes a fool of himself.

Certainly you are not congenitally dishonest like the Democrats who ran a Democrat as the Tea Party Candidate - someone who previously ran as a D3emocrat until this year and was not even endorsed by the Tea Party?

In other words - a typical dishonest Democrat dirty trick.

There was no referendum on anything here. Just typical everyday dishonest Democrat politics.

But the question Shiloh - before I turn in for the night out here in the beautiful West being-turned-into-a-third-world-country by Democrats (again, congenitally dishonest Democrats) - is:

Do you believe in winning at any cost - even dishonesty? Out and Out lying?

Thanks for the compliment about the hat. I wear it always. Mrs. Chase likes it when I wear it in the shower.

we're constantly told that michelle is the second coming of the fashionable jackie O ... but every time i see a pic of her, i bust out in laughter at how ridiculous she looks in her sleeveless, gaudily patterned sundresses, bag lady sweaters (worn two or three at a time), plastic belts, plastic jewelry, and sandals. what a classless embarrassment she is as first lady! of course, her 'brilliant' husband doesn't even know what year it is so i guess it's a match made in heaven.

Well, it's tough to compete with a model thin 20 year old. But, the first lady does have a tendency to gravitate toward little kids clothes. I'd think you'd hate that, Althouse, given your aversion to childishly dressed men in shorts.

My five year old would LOVE the shiny, pink bolero. When Mrs. Obama wears simple, chic sheathes, she looks quite fashionable. When she wears pretty princess frocks, she looks a bit ridiculous.

It's a good bet that when Michelle was crowned "Most Beautiful First Lady in the History of First Ladies and Classiest Too", shiloh's comments tended toward "God! It's so refreshing to have a FLOTUS with a young progressive sense of style! Finally!"

But a flowery print with traffic cone orange spike heels to a posthumous MOH ceremony, golden sneakers and bedazzeled baseball cap to feed the homeless, and a collection of 8-inch-wide plastic brelts later, shiloh's mode d'comment becomes "Seriously? Can we not find something more important to talk about than Michelle's wardrobe? Seriously? Can we not?"

So with shiloh's 180 degree turnaround (or as Barack would say 'a 360 degree turnaround), shiloh tells you that Michelle is indeed an embarrassment and the subject needs to be changed immediately. Fixing what happened in the 8 years prior to the last 3 is too important to be distracted by what's happening this week. Every golf hole could provide the much-needed relaxation that will free Obama's cluttered-with-complexity mind so that he can come up with another slogan and save our land.

"And the only recent "buns burned" were Corwin losing in heavily Rep NY-26 as the Rep hierarchy spin machine spun into action ..."

I live in the 26th and followed the proceedings all along. Here are my observations:

Jack Davis, former Democrat, and, by many accounts, confirmed nut job, successfully played the spoiler in this one. It was his 4th attempt to buy his way into a seat. He garnered about 9000 votes, Corwin lost by some 5000 in a district whose rolls indicate about +35K in terms of Repub registration. Corwin hurt herself by not immediately firing a lackey that tried to embarrass Davis, goading him on camera into a 'fight' (wasn't a fight but a staged stunt).

Kathy Hochul, the Democrat, really had the better resume' in my opinion. She has some conservative blood in her, which ultimately got her the nod, not her dem label. She's done a great job standing up for citizens in the face of heavy regulation and additional fees and taxes at the DMV.

I think alot of my neighbors, primarily conservatives and not repubs/rinos, took this into consideration which I don't disagree with.

I think Kathy was the best choice here. And I generally do not vote democrat.

As far as your 'spin machine' reference, dems are the master spinners so I guess you would know. Suffice it to say I am not surprised by the results. If repubs expect to retain seats/make gains moving forward, they need stronger candidates if they want to compete with the democrat machine that has a death grip on the fiscal death-spiralling New York State.

Like her husband, Michelle is the exact opposite of what the media claims she is. The truth is Barry is not particularly smooth or bright and she is not particularly attractive and has crappy fashion sense.

Michelle was put into a talented in gifted program in the 5th grade because of her minority status and her father being a Democratic party hack, which also explains his well paid job. No doubt she got into Princeton on Affirmative Action. No wonder she disliked the students who got there on talent and resented those there by Affirmative Action. She has been touted for her brilliance, but we haven't really seen much. She does have well toned arms. She was promoted by the fawning press as a style plate to rival Jackie. (As Caroline Kennedy is but 5 months older than me, I don't remember Jackie's style. But the press fawned over her too.) Since the press has pumped up MO's fashion, it is only fitting she receive criticisms for it.

Michelle went to a food bank in $600 shoes. Really? One time food bank appearances are all about the photo-op. Show up weekly and then I'll be impressed. She, like her husband, is an empty suit. Law school grad? I'm not impressed. Most law schools let the admissions department do the hard work. Professors figure you got in, they'll see that you get out, especially the Affirmative Action students. Professors aren't there to "weed" people out.

The headline is "insane" to me because of the violent phrase "blew... out of the water" and the assumption that these women are there to be in a vicious competition with each other.

By the way, I don't find the Duchess very attractive. She's emaciated and lipless.

Yeah. More of that "violent" rhetoric you liberals despise. See above comment: Michelle has been trumpeted as being a fashion leader, and she was thumped by a younger woman. Women of a certain age find it much easier to be attractive than those who are older. Look at our movie stars: men hang around for ever, and the window of opportunity for women is much smaller.

Ann: that was pretty catty. Audrey Hepburn had the same lips and body shape. And she was hot. Michelle has a large bottom.

I don't remember any other first lady being promoted for her looks, except Jackie. But then Jackie used to wear a dress once and then sell it. She had very expensive taste, which really isn't the same thing as style.

Did anybody else sit up and notice when President Obama said of his wife "You don't want to get between her and a tamale."? The poor woman must be bored out of her gourd in the White House, trapped by adoring fans. What sort of husband would say something like that in the presence of others? Or even aloud?

A standard of rotten to be compared only with Bill Clinton. Cheating on your spouse is much more insulting, but might be easier to ignore.

I just returned from my morning chores. I wore my usual early day clothes, which is sweats. Army sweatpants, 82nd Abn. Div. sweatshirt. It's cool out this morning, and when I start my work day, I'll wear coveralls. While I'm certainly not a fashion expert, I wear what I do because of the work that I do. My clothes are practical. If I need to dress nice, I'll wear some slacks, knit shirt and a sport jacket. I was thinking about Michelle, and her clothes make no sense. They're just not practical. Look at that stupid short arm lengthed jacket. It has no purpose. No functionality.

Normally, I would be the last person to defend Michelle Obama. But my body type is not that much different from hers, so I feel her pain when it comes to finding sophisticated dresses. The article's insulting line, "but does the First Lady not realise that volume (ie, a puffed-out skirt) has become as unfashionable as snow-washed denim" is just an example of typical British press bitchery. When you have a real booty, you can't wear a bandage dress without looking like you're on the stroll. Full skirts are the best friend of a woman with an hourglass figure.

They both look awful. Kate's a broomstick wrapped in beige sofa fabric, and Michelle -- well, what the hell is that thing she's wearing? Surely she could have picked up something more flattering at a Wal-Mart or Target somewhere.

I agree with the professor that Catherine is too thin. She looks anorexic to me. I don't think that looks good on women and I think it's a shame they think they need to look like that.

I don't think there's much you could do to make MO's 56" butt look good. She's just a big woman. But I think it would be a lot smarter to dress her down a good bit, lose those enormous heels for example, and put her in a less pretentious outfit. That might help. Her thighs are bigger around than my waist.

I've seen her look a lot better than she does in those photos, but that isn't saying much.

No, just examples. I see 40+ year old hotties in the gym every day. One trainer is 47 and is drop dead gorgeous with a killer body. One can compete with the 20 somethings but it just may take more effort.

"Full skirts are the best friend of a woman with an hourglass figure."

It's not her figure, it's her fashion sense. It's no doubt difficult for a typical woman to find clothes that flatter a hard to flatter body on a budget, but this woman has plenty of money. You're telling me she can't find someone to make flattering clothes for her?

Sure she can. She just has horrible taste and no amount of money can fix that.

Oh for Pete's sake! I'm no fashion maven, but I thought they both looked alright. Of course, if they were holding a "who looks skinny and young" contest, I'd guess the skinnier and younger woman would win every time.

But as previous commenters have noted, that Katie really needs to go for seconds on the pie, or flan, or whatever the hell it is they call it over there.

Michelle is always dressing too young! I think that's my chief fashion complaint with her. That and the grandma's couch patterns. When she doesn't make either of those missteps she tends to look great.

Although now that I can see the picture I actually think I like that dress (although it may have something to do with my love of the color green!). The pink shawl thing was stupid, though. And the other pink dress was paired with navy? Blech.

I must say, I definitely prefer the fashion choices of the Duchess of Cambridge over that of Michelle Obama, but as they say, to each his/her own....

On the (attempted) toast by Obama to HRM-- that could very well be the product of his genetically programmed hatred for "Brittania" in general, documented from his grandfather's participation in the Kenyan rebellions against British involvement there-- if Obama were attempting to cash in on the "Anglophilia" popularity generated from the recent marriage festivities there, then he failed, miserably.....

There's something very odd about Americans conservatives writing snark about a US president and 1st lady committing fashion and etiquette faux pas around British royalty. T. Coddington Van Voorhees would be so proud of us.

Michelle Obama could be much nicer looking even with her unfortunate physical shape.

She can't help her ginormous butt and thighs. Those are genetic. She is a very tall and athletically built woman. Dressed strategically she could look very nice. Her skin tone is great for certain colors......pastels are NOT those colors.

However, she can dress more appropriately. Unfortunately....she doesn't.

The ugly bride's maid dress and a bolero that is too small and not flattering at all. Doesn't she have ANYONE who can advise her? Maybe she does but won't listen.

The woman is an embarrassment to our country as First Lady.

The President is even worse. Obama and his entire administration is an embarrassment. Do we not have an office of Protocol????? Someone to tell them what to do. How to act when in a foreign country. What words mean in other languages (reset button).

What a bunch of maroons. Can we please get these people to exit stage left? And soon.

Headline not so "insane" when taken in the context of the overwrought "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" tone of the whole article. And also considering the mention in the first paragraph of nuclear submarine funding cutbacks, which are apparently a very current, very contentious subject of discussion in England at the moment...It's a fashion press celebrity media article. Not political commentary.